STAR TREK ..over-rated???

[RobertScorpio]

There seems to be a new generation of kids out there who don't seem to value Star Trek as much. I know Star Trek has been seen as light fluff through out its life, but then you read about all the inventors, movie producers, heck even astronauts, who were influenced by TOS. And yet now a days? Star Trek, the newer versions, don't seem to ilicit that kind of awe...why do you think that is??? Competition? Was TOS over-rated???

What must Star Trek do to regain its mojo, or is it there..as it always has been.

Rob
Scorpio

 

[Herkimer Jitty]

The Original Series was certainly not overrated. However, I believe that Star Trek lost something when TMP came out. The daring sense of adventure got sucked out of it, and we started getting "new-age Star Trek", although the TMP sequels didn't really suffer from this. TNG continued the taming of space, and really, it felt quite cosmopolitan. DS9 was set in familiar territory, Voyager made the Delta Quadrant every bit as pedestrian as the Alpha Quadrant after season 2, and Enterprise boldly went where the Vulcans have apparently been before. So, a lot of times, I got the "been there, done that" feeling. Maybe it's just that Trek has carried on so long with the same song and dance. I've been saying this for a while, and I believe it so much. A new Star Trek series will need scifi novelists writing for it, really talented ones at that. TOS was at its best when the plots were clever, and the technology was futuristic and inspiring. I know he's not very informed, but Roger Ebert had a point when he said the bridge of the Enterprise was starting to look like the security center of a mall in Nemesis.

I don't Abram's Trek will inspire new inventions, but I hope, oh I hope that it will recapture that intangible TOS "mojo" that none of the other series have come even close to grasping.

 

[RobertScorpio]

The Original Series was certainly not overrated. However, I believe that Star Trek lost something when TMP came out. The daring sense of adventure got sucked out of it, and we started getting "new-age Star Trek", although the TMP sequels didn't really suffer from this. TNG continued the taming of space, and really, it felt quite cosmopolitan. DS9 was set in familiar territory, Voyager made the Delta Quadrant every bit as pedestrian as the Alpha Quadrant after season 2, and Enterprise boldly went where the Vulcans have apparently been before. So, a lot of times, I got the "been there, done that" feeling. Maybe it's just that Trek has carried on so long with the same song and dance. I've been saying this for a while, and I believe it so much. A new Star Trek series will need scifi novelists writing for it, really talented ones at that. TOS was at its best when the plots were clever, and the technology was futuristic and inspiring. I know he's not very informed, but Roger Ebert had a point when he said the bridge of the Enterprise was starting to look like the security center of a mall in Nemesis.

I don't Abram's Trek will inspire new inventions, but I hope, oh I hope that it will recapture that intangible TOS "mojo" that none of the other series have come even close to grasping.

Awesome post..and I totally agree...good points. If only TPTB would understand this as well..

Rob
Scorpio

 

[All Seeing Eye]

I think nowadays it is considered 'too far fetched' and technobablic.

 

[RobertScorpio]

I think nowadays it is considered 'too far fetched' and technobablic.

Oh, i totally agree. While I love DS9 and TNG, the over use of technobabble really enforced the 'geek' factor of Trek by ten fold....some will say it was needed because the audience was more sophisticated in the 80s-90s. That may be true to some degree, but I think it went way too far.

Rob

 

[Kirkman1987]

well, from what I understand Star Trek has Great support in the critical community (at least the first several shows/films) but not a lot of public popularity these days.

here's some of my random thoughts.

1. I don't think Star Trek is overrated by critics. Popularity and Quality are two different things.

2. I think Competition hurt star trek once other sci-fi shows caught up and in some cases surpassed it. Star Trek was mostly by itself in the genre for well into TNG's run. this helped tremondously.

As for why Trek isn't popular now.

the reason is that there's so damn much of it that most people are intimidated to even attempt breaking into it. Also, trek has a terrible reputation as being a show for social misfits, so most are hesitant to watch and biased aganist it.

for illustration, my professor today was talking about logic vs. emotinalism in Bureacracies today and related it to star trek, asking if anyone watched the show or knew who Spock was......I was the only one out of the 30 some odd students that got his reference.

also, My roomate had someone over yesterday that openly mocked my trek dvds on my shelf. this person hasn't seen it and likely hasn't the slightest idea what it's even about.

I see Star Trek popularity coming back next year when the film hits big, but I doubt this will affect popularity for the old shows......they're just be "the old crappy ones" to most people.

 

[All Seeing Eye]

Also, trek has a terrible reputation as being a show for social misfits, so most are hesitant to watch and biased aganist it.

Indeed. My friends and in laws call me sad and a geek because I like and watch Star Trek and yet they've never once sat down and watched it. My wife was the same but after I forced her to watch the entire series of DS9 and Enterprise she immediately changed her mind.
I even got her to like Stargate, her favourite character is Rodney McCay.

 

[Captain X]

I think there's a pretty big bias against the entire science fiction genre. Even BSG get jipped at awards shows. And since Star Trek is what most people think of when they think of sci fi, they tend to avoid it because for whatever reason it's seen as nerdy or uncool. It also doesn't help that the quality left something to be desired in the later shows, and pretty much all of the shows had something in them that was forehead slappingly stupid.

From my own perspective, I don't much care for TOS, because try as I might I just can't get past the corn. Some people think it's fun and classy, but I really can't stand it. I used to like TNG as a kid, but as I've grown into an adult it's aged very badly for me because of how preachy and arrogant the show could be. DS9 remains my favorite of the franchise, but even it had its WTF moments, Let He Who is Without Sin.. and Profit and Lace among them. VOY tried desperately to be like TNG in the Delta Quadrant, but it lacked creativity and it was more like TPTB were going through the motions more than anything else. Pretty much the same deal with ENT, which came off as VOY, mk II. VOY and ENT even had potentially good premises, they just sucked in execution.

 

[c0rnedfr0g]

for illustration, my professor today was talking about logic vs. emotinalism in Bureacracies today and related it to star trek, asking if anyone watched the show or knew who Spock was......I was the only one out of the 30 some odd students that got his reference.

I can almost guarantee more than just you knew who Spock was. At the very least some, if not all, of your classmates had heard of him. Have they not been living in cultural America for the last 20 years (judging from ur sn 1987) ?? Some people, I've found, try to distance themselves so far from what's "nerdy" that they will not even admit (or will outright lie) in regards to any Trek reference, no matter how broad. I bet that there were more than a few people in that class who were just afraid to raise their hand... hell I know I've been there, not wanting to be that bold 2nd person to admit Trek fandom (sorry anyone if I left you hangin )

plus some people prefer not to participate at all in class....

 

[Kirkman1987]

for illustration, my professor today was talking about logic vs. emotinalism in Bureacracies today and related it to star trek, asking if anyone watched the show or knew who Spock was......I was the only one out of the 30 some odd students that got his reference.

I can almost guarantee more than just you knew who Spock was. At the very least some, if not all, of your classmates had heard of him. Have they not been living in cultural America for the last 20 years (judging from ur sn 1987) ?? Some people, I've found, try to distance themselves so far from what's "nerdy" that they will not even admit (or will outright lie) in regards to any Trek reference, no matter how broad. I bet that there were more than a few people in that class who were just afraid to raise their hand... hell I know I've been there, not wanting to be that bold 2nd person to admit Trek fandom (sorry anyone if I left you hangin )

plus some people prefer not to participate at all in class....

Solidarity brothers

 

[I am not Spock]

well, from what I understand Star Trek has Great support in the critical community (at least the first several shows/films) but not a lot of public popularity these days.

here's some of my random thoughts.

1. I don't think Star Trek is overrated by critics. Popularity and Quality are two different things.

2. I think Competition hurt star trek once other sci-fi shows caught up and in some cases surpassed it. Star Trek was mostly by itself in the genre for well into TNG's run. this helped tremondously.

As for why Trek isn't popular now.

the reason is that there's so damn much of it that most people are intimidated to even attempt breaking into it. Also, trek has a terrible reputation as being a show for social misfits, so most are hesitant to watch and biased aganist it.

for illustration, my professor today was talking about logic vs. emotinalism in Bureacracies today and related it to star trek, asking if anyone watched the show or knew who Spock was......I was the only one out of the 30 some odd students that got his reference.

also, My roomate had someone over yesterday that openly mocked my trek dvds on my shelf. this person hasn't seen it and likely hasn't the slightest idea what it's even about.

I see Star Trek popularity coming back next year when the film hits big, but I doubt this will affect popularity for the old shows......they're just be "the old crappy ones" to most people.

I agree with all your points here, man. Well said. Especially the last one. If Trek XI gains new Trekkies, these fans probably won't bother seeking out the other shows, regarding them as that 'boring' old Trek.

Trek hasn't been in the mainstream for a long time. The last taste it had was probably back with First Contact in 1996. I doubt it will ever get to that level of popularity again.

But then, who really cares what the mainstream thinks?

 

[roguephoenix]

the only "star" that's overrated and eyeroll-worthy is star wars. talk about overrated and over exposed.

 

[Herkimer Jitty]

I dare you to roll your eyes at Empire Strikes Back.

I triple dog dare you.

 

[Captain X]

 

[TGTheodore]

The basic fact is when TOS was intially on there was very little like it.

Now there's a GLUT of sci-fi everywhere, and most of it mediocre at best.

Sci-fi (and therefore Star Trek) got over-saturated and therefore less special by sheer volume.

--Ted

 

[darkshadow0001]

There seems to be a new generation of kids out there who don't seem to value Star Trek as much. I know Star Trek has been seen as light fluff through out its life, but then you read about all the inventors, movie producers, heck even astronauts, who were influenced by TOS. And yet now a days? Star Trek, the newer versions, don't seem to ilicit that kind of awe...why do you think that is??? Competition? Was TOS over-rated???

What must Star Trek do to regain its mojo, or is it there..as it always has been.

Rob
Scorpio

No. It just happened to get popular as time went on. It's amazing how one show could span in just 40 years to 4 other series, 11 movies, and an animated series. No other show has ever done that, as far as I know. From what I understand even Lucas got some of his ideas for Star Wars through Star Trek, or at least was influenced by it...

 

[A beaker full of death]

You know the answer to this. Star Trek was literary and cinematic - that is, it was written by professional, educated, trained writers who had studied literature and understood story structure and characterization, and it was lit, filmed and scored by professionals with a proper grounding in their respective disciplines. Just listen to some of the Trek scores. A lot of them were cutting edge avant garde stuff.
That kind of quality inspires.
The later series were cobbled together by hacks who had learned to write by watching tv and thought talking heads was the way to shoot a scene. There was nothing there to inspire.

 

[ManOnTheWave]

The basic fact is when TOS was intially on there was very little like it.

Now there's a GLUT of sci-fi everywhere, and most of it mediocre at best.

Sci-fi (and therefore Star Trek) got over-saturated and therefore less special by sheer volume.

--Ted

Agreed totally. This also goes for the fun facts about inventors, too. When My TV had four channels, a broadcast about how Star Trek inspired many inventors to create cell phones, automatic doors, etc. made quite an impression. Now that I have hundreds of channels, knowing the guy who invented the iPod attributes his inspiration to a scene with Data on TNG really just becomes another bit of trivia, lost in a quagmire of chef recipes, and E! True Hollywood stories.

 

[c0rnedfr0g]

Star Trek wore out its welcome in the 90s. With movies and 3 series, some which overlapped, people became tired of a decade of new, recycled Trek every week on primetime, followed by Trek every day on reruns. People got bored with it and sick of it. Trek overexpanded and the backlash was from the general public turning it off or relating Trek to nerdiness. It was a great time for Trek fans, but I don't think we'll ever see an era like that again.

 

[roguephoenix]

I dare you to roll your eyes at Empire Strikes Back.

I triple dog dare you.

there tripple. i don't have a dog, but here's a better alternative.
http://www.wayodd.com/funny-pictures2/funny-pictures-tired-kitten-wUK.jpg

how cute! the kitten heard another star wars whatever is being made.